their
/ðɛə/
"their" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“their” has 6 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #56. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #56
- frequency rank, English
- 27,828
- “T” headwords
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Belonging to, from, of, or relating to, them (plural).
Corpus desk
Index EN-their · their · English
their · rank #56 · 6 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-CORE #56
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 6 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 27,828
- PHOTO-FINISH it's
Nearest frequency peer: it's (-1 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Frequency neighbourhood for “their”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- who
who
99,948 corpus weight
- had
had
99,947 corpus weight
- it's
it's
99,946 corpus weight
- their
their
99,945 corpus weight
- there
there
99,944 corpus weight
- her
her
99,943 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “their” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | their |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Determiner |
| IPA | /ðɛə/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #56 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “their” sits in English frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 6 spelling variants around their (IPA /ðɛə/), adeterminer. Corpus frequency is #56 among 27,828 “T” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for their, with forms such as "hteir", "tehir", and "theirr". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "Thi", "this", "they", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Old Norse þeirra. Replaced native Old English heora. The correct English form is their, spelled T-H-E-I-R.
Definition
- 1Belonging to, from, of, or relating to, them (plural).
- 2Belonging to someone (one person, singular), or occasionally to something.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how their appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
they will meet tomorrow at their convenience
this is probably their cat
Etymology
From Old Norse þeirra. Replaced native Old English heora.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- hteir
- tehir
- theirr
- theri
- thheir
- ttheir
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of their - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of May 6, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "their"?
What does "their" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "their"?
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What is the origin of the word "their"?
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "their", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (6 here; floor ≥5).
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.